


Cut

by SaddlesoapOpera



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Halloween, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mummies, Original Character(s), Suicidal Thoughts, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29843190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaddlesoapOpera/pseuds/SaddlesoapOpera
Summary: It's Halloween in Beach City, and while the Gems and Humans celebrate, a desperate new arrival in town seeks out Pearl to make a strange and worrying request.
Kudos: 2





	Cut

“Well, the Roasted Pumpkin and Smoked Eel Spooktacular looks amazing, but …” The teen in black fidgeted with the weighty pewter ankh slung on a satin cord around her neck. She hung her head, and her tangled coal-black hair hid her darkly-lined eyes. “Look, I, ah, I kinda lost my purse earlier, so I’ll just take a water, okay?”

“Aww, what?” said the smiling girl behind the counter. She wore springy plastic alien antennae on a hairband over her bandanna, and a silvery-green bodysuit under her apron. “You’re the first person all DAY to actually want to try that pizza — you can’t back out now!” She briskly prepared a slice and then handed it over. “Here, let’s call this a free sample, okay? I’ll have to toss the thing soon, anyway.”

The girl looked up again, her wide eyes shining. “R-Really…?” She took the slice and immediately ripped it in half with one huge bite. She hummed blissfully as she chewed the cheek-bulging mouthful, and mumbled: _“Fannk y’ww fo mupf!”_ Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Shoot, is it terrible?” the would-be alien waitress asked with a frown. “It’s terrible, isn’t it?”

With one more jaw-straining bite, the slice was gone. The girl shook her head, and then answered once she’d gulped it down. “No! No, it was great! I haven’t eaten since yesterday. You’re so nice!” She inhaled to speak on, but then an autumn chill filled the air as the pizza shop’s door opened.

A high, smooth voice called out: “Good evening, Kiki. May I come in?”

Kiki smiled warmly. “Sure thing! Door’s open and so are we!” She raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t really seen you around the place that much. Pearl, right…?”

A sleek figure with skin like alabaster and eyes like a frozen sea swanned into the restaurant with steps that made no sound at all. She wore a black gown in lace and silk, decorated with a spiderweb motif. A perfectly smooth pearl cabochon decorated her forehead. “That’s right. Usually it’s been Amethyst or … or Steven, picking up the orders, but with Steven away and Amethyst busy with the concert, I came instead.”

Kiki nodded and then turned to fetch a stack of four boxes sitting in the warmer. She handed them over and clapped flour off her hands. “Long as you’re here, would you like a free slice for yourself? These new Halloween flavours could use a little attention.” She picked up a slice on a napkin. “Wanna try the Garlic Pesto Slime Monster? I promise it’s better than it sounds!”

The customer, Pearl, balanced the four pizzas on one upturned hand and used the other to pinch her aquiline nose as she staggered back. “ _Uhgh, no!_ ...No thank you, that is.” She quickly regained her composure. “I’m not in the habit of eating.” She turned on her heels and headed back toward the door. “Thank you for the pizzas.”

“Tab’s due in a week!” Kiki called after her. “Remind Amethyst! Her tab covers a quarter of our bills!”

The teen watched that graceful figure recede into the breezy night until the shadows swallowed her up. She slid her fingers over her fishnet-covered forearms, and whispered:

_“Pearl …”_

——— ☾ ——— 

Pearl walked down the boardwalk, heading for the distant sounds and lights of the Halloween concert on the beach. Ahead, an unattended running hose gushed a stream of flowing water across the weathered wood. She paused to turn the faucet off, and then carefully stepped over the wet wood before proceeding.

Soon after, not far from the Big Donut, a paint can filled with assorted metal nuts and washers sailed out from behind some crates, crashed down onto the boardwalk and spilled its contents.

With a frown and a raised eyebrow, Pearl carefully set down the pizzas before crouching to gather up the mess. She moved with blinding speed and surgical precision. She held out the refilled can and looked around. “Hello? Did someone drop three hundred and nineteen small metal components?” She turned once again. “Anyone?”

With the concert in full swing and the night deepening, the boardwalk seemed empty. A stray flyer whipped around in the chilly breeze.

Pearl shrugged, put the can down next to the nearest building, picked up the pizza boxes, and then moved on. Unseen, a shadowy figure crept along after her.

Greg padded up to Pearl just as she came to the rear edge of the cheering crowd on the beach. He wore a dark, ill-fitting suit with green face paint and a rubber forehead appliance that made him look like a lumbering Frankenstein’s Monster.

“Hey, Pearl! You’re right on time — the set’s just about done.” He took the boxes. “Thanks, by the way. I had to get the soundboard set up right, handle the lights … just like the old days, putting on shows is half feeling like a music legend, and half running around in a total panic.”

Pearl gave a dainty chuckle. “Think nothing of it.” As Greg went to put the pizza out on the refreshments table, Pearl focused on the concert. Up on stage, the performers gave their all for a varied crowd, all wearing garish costumes. The performance peaked and the audience went wild. Pearl looked up at the stage and smiled, offering polite applause that was completely drowned out. 

Just then, a hand gently tugged at her web-patterned sleeve. “Pearl …?”

Pearl turned to see a young Human woman perhaps an inch shorter than she was, apparently also sporting what she was to understand was known as ‘Gothic’ attire. Of course, Pearl knew _proper_ Goths would have worn less black eyeliner and more rough-cured animal hides, but she hadn’t quibbled. “Yes?”

The girl hugged herself, squeezing tight. She took a deep breath before replying. “I … I know what you are. You’re not human.”

Pearl covered a small titter with one elegant hand. “Of course not! I’m-”

The girl cut her off. “Please, can we go somewhere else? I’m not gonna … I just want …” She trailed off into meek mumbles swallowed by the raucous crowd’s noise. She shuddered and started choking up, eyes shining with tears.

“Oh, my! What’s wrong?” Pearl looked to and fro. “Here, this way …”

She offered a cool, smooth hand and led the teen away, down the beach toward the ancient statue-temple and the beach house. The girl took Pearl’s hand, and followed.

——— ☾ ———

The sand was firm and level, but it felt like a heaving, stormy sea. The girl had to focus on every step to avoid falling to her knees. She’d made it. It was happening. She ran over the words she’d rehearsed over and over on the long bus ride, but the flowery speech collapsed into a mess of jumbled thoughts that spilled from her mouth like coughs.

“I’m, ah, I’m Laura,” she said as they walked. “I found you when I browsed the blog Keep Beach City Weird. I look at a lot of stuff like that. That site says this town’s full of alien monsters working for snake people, but I know that’s wrong. Ridiculous.”

“Indeed,” Pearl said. She stopped in the shadow of a massive stone hand jutting up from the sand, and turned to face Laura. “Now, what’s all this about?” she asked.

That pupiless, inhuman gaze poured icewater down Laura’s spine. The jumble was getting worse. She shivered. “I saw …” her voice quavered. She took a breath and tried again. “I’m from Empire City. I saw you, two years ago. From my bedroom window. You were at the hotel across the street, dancing on the balcony. Balancing on a half-inch of glass.” She rubbed one fishnet-covered forearm with the other hand. “I knew you couldn’t be human. You were so beautiful. Impossible. I’d never seen anything so perfect.”

Pearl’s cheeks darkened in a bloodless cyan blush. “Well, I don’t know about that …”

“I never thought I’d see you again. How could I? You could have gone anywhere. But then I saw the blog, and you were there, in one of the pictures, with all that crazy alien nonsense. You were right there, just a couple states over.” Laura rubbed her arm again, and winced.

Somehow, too quickly to follow, Pearl was holding a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol. “You’re bleeding.”

Laura stiffened. She looked down at the shiny pinpoints of blood on the poorly healed scratches she’d rubbed open. Under the fishnet, they were barely even visible. 

“How …? Oh, right. Of course…” She chuckled nervously as she offered her arm to receive a spritz of the cold, stinging stuff. “I hope it doesn’t, you know, bother you …”

Pearl shook her head. “It’s all right. I’ve seen worse, I assure you. Here ...”

The girl blushed. “Right.” She winced a little as Pearl cradled her arm with one hand and sprayed with the other. 

“There are a lot of injuries here,” Pearl remarked. With a gleam and a quick gesture, the bottle vanished again. She ran her firm fingertips over the fishnet, examining the scars beneath. “It’s a pity you Humans don’t recover the way we do.”

Laura started shaking. She couldn’t help it. More words fell out of her mouth in an embarrassing torrent.

“I w-wanted to do this right, I had all these things to say, but now I’m here, and you’re real, and I don’t … you …” Mascara-soaked tears cut dark lines into the cheap white makeup paling her face. She started speaking faster. “Home sucks! Nobody’s there for me! Frank is always working, and Mom’s always shouting, or crying, and I miss my Dad, and school’s a nightmare, and Ronnie dumped me, and my stupid friends don’t get it, and… and I keep c-cutting, just to-”

Pearl pulled her into a tight embrace. Those slender, graceful arms were so solid, so strong, like iron bands. Laura felt panicked. Safe. Trapped. Held. It was over. Too late to change her mind. She hugged back and buried her face in Pearl’s lace-covered shoulder. She felt no pulse in that cool, ivory-pale flesh. She inhaled. Pearl had no scent at all, like she was a stone statue. Laura heard herself let out a half-laugh, half-sob.

“Shhh … it’s all right,” Pearl crooned.

It was time. Laura reached up a hand to flip her hair to one side, and craned her neck to expose her throat. “Please …” she whispered. “You don’t have to turn me, I don’t even care. If not, just take my blood, anyway. All of it. Just take me away …” She trembled and sniffled back tears.

Pearl’s brows furrowed. She gently but firmly pushed Laura back and stared into her eyes. “Laura, would you please tell me exactly what you think is happening right now?”

“I know what’s happening! I know what you are, I made sure! I followed you and tested you on the boardwalk, before, and everything! I want it. I’m not scared.” Laura’s bottom lip quivered. “I’m not s-scared.” More tears spilled. “You’re a vampire, and I’m giving myself to you.”

——— ☾ ———

Pearl stared into the girl’s anguished, tear-soaked face for a long, long time. She’d seen that look so many times. That mad, exhausted collapse, far beyond the limits of endurance, where a tiny wellspring of bitter joy waited on the promise of relief. Of an ending. Any ending. Sometimes, she’d seen it reflected in the still waters of her sanctum in the temple.

“Giving yourself …?” Pearl cleared her throat and then put on a neutral, unreadable expression. “I can see you’re gravely upset. That can colour your perceptions, and turn your thoughts down inadvisable paths. It’s not a wise time to make big decisions like ... whatever you’re after from me. Believe me.”

Laura grimaced and smeared her makeup as she pawed at her tears with both hands. “N-No…! Please! Don’t turn me away! I didn’t tell them where I went, and I ran out of money getting here, there’s nothing else for me … nothing ...” She sobbed in short, strained gasps.

Pearl squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “I’m not turning you away. But as I said, you’re in a sorry state. Come with me. Spend the night. Talk to my friends. We’ll see how you feel tomorrow, all right?” She nodded toward the temple.

While still struggling to wipe off her blackened tears, Laura gave a shaky nod and moved to follow.

Barely a minute later, Pearl led the girl up the wooden steps and into the expansive beach house sitting at the base of the ancient statue-temple. She brought Laura over to the sofa and sat her down, and then headed to the kitchen to put on the kettle.

“Tea?” she asked.

Laura sniffled again and cleared her throat. “You drink tea?”

“Sometimes,” Pearl replied. “Mostly, though, I just enjoy the process and the scent.” She rinsed the teapot with hot water to warm it, set it down with its top off, and then snatched up the kettle in the first second of its whistling with one hand, while the other deftly dropped sachets of tea into the pot. She poured, and the air filled with the humid perfume of imported black Darjeeling.

Pearl glanced over to Laura. “You’re staring. Do you prefer green tea?”

“Oh …!” Laura shook her head. “No, it’s not that! You just … you’re so graceful. Weightless. Just like on the balcony. Does it come naturally? Did you have to learn?”

The teapot’s top softly clacked as Pearl replaced it. “I suppose I was made this way, more or less,” she mused. “Of course, a few thousand years of practice certainly helped!” She chuckled.

Laura stared again, with wider eyes.

Before they could speak on, however, a hulking mass of torn plaid rags and purple fur burst into the front door and skidded to a halt with a pizza box clasped in its long, fanged muzzle. The beast set down the box, and then hoarsely bellowed:

“Piz-za Wolf! Piz-za Wolf! Awoooooo!” The wolf-thing pounced on the box and tore into cardboard and pizza alike, scattering debris and splatters of sauce all about.

Pearl and Laura both screamed, with slightly different emotional timbres.

“AMETHYST!” Pearl chided sharply. “You’re making an awful mess! And a bad impression!” She nodded at the stunned girl sitting frozen in panic on the sofa.

In a flash, Amethyst returned to humanoid form and gave an apologetic shrug. “Woops. Guess I got carried away, P.” She crossed the room in two hopping strides and leapt onto the couch to sit next to Laura. “So who’s the pale girl? Another Pearl?” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

The teen blushed through her smeared makeup. “M-Maybe…” she mumbled.

Pearl rolled her eyes and shook her head as she brought a cup of tea to Laura and casually tossed the used teabags toward Amethyst, who snapped them out of the air like a tropical fish at feeding time. “Those pizzas were for the Humans at the concert.”

“Hey, rockin’ out with my Quartz crew works up an appetite!” Amethyst plucked a stray pepperoni slice out of her hair, and quietly tucked it into her shirt for later.

“Just behave yourself, and stay with Laura, here, for a little while, all right? I need to make a call, and she shouldn’t be alone, right now.” Pearl headed for the door, pausing to look back to the girl. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

Pearl went down the stairs and called forth her smartphone. She chose one of the first entries in her address book, and waited. She brightened when the line picked up and a video call connected.

“Oh, Pearl!” Connie brushed a lock of black hair behind one ear. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, Connie. Everything’s fine. Mostly. I just have a question to ask you, if you have a moment.” 

Connie raised an eyebrow. “Uh, okay?”

Pearl took a deep breath, and then said: “... What, exactly, is a vampire?”

——— ☾ ———

Laura looked the stocky, curvy creature up and down. She wasn’t tall — a good head shorter than Laura, actually — but the couch strained under her density. She had to be all rock-solid muscle under the pudge. Her hair was a tangled waist-length mane, silvery in contrast to her dusky purple skin, and her clothes were mostly torn to pieces. A faceted stone, a necklace, maybe, gleamed on her chest.

“So, uh, Amethyst, right?” Laura said cautiously. “I’m Laura, like Pearl said.”

“Mmhm.” Amethyst slowly tipped over until her legs were up against the back of the sofa and her head dangled over the front end. “So what’s your deal? Do you know Connie, or something?”

Laura shook her head. “I came here to see Pearl. I'd wanted her to make me, you know, like her. But when we finally met I kinda fell apart.”

“Uhgh.” Amethyst offered an upside-down frown. “Just as well. She tried that with Connie, already, and Steven got pretty upset ‘cause he didn’t want her to end up dead.”

“Oh, so, Connie’s still Human?” Laura asked. 

“Somebody’s gotta be,” Amethyst said with a shrug. “Not enough of us to go around.” She pitched forward and rolled to stand upright on the floor, and then strode over to the ruins of the pizza to pick at what was left. She held up a ragged slice flecked with shreds of cardboard and offered it up.

Laura grimaced. “No thanks.” She watched Amethyst sit on the floor and casually devour what remained for a time before speaking again. “How did you … end up like this? Can I ask that? Were you attacked?”

“Hmph…?” Amethyst wiped off her mouth with the back of a hand. She looked down at her ragged attire. “Nah, this is all me, pretty much. I was BORN this awesome! Well, maybe with shorter hair, I guess.” She chuckled.

“Oh …” Laura shifted awkwardly on the sofa. “So, who’s Steven? Is he Pearl’s…” She trailed off.

Amethyst shook her head as she chewed, and pointed up at a weathered oil painting hung high on the wall. “Rose was Steven’s mom. He’s half human.”

The portrait showed a serene, round-featured figure wreathed in unnaturally pink ringlets like some Renaissance angel. Laura stared in awe. “Wow … she’s beautiful. How-”

Amethyst waved with both hands. “Aww, HECK no. We are NOT getting into Rose. Untangling THAT mess would take about a hundred years!” She scoffed and folded her arms, her expression souring. “I’m STILL dealing with most of it.” She looked up again to meet Laura’s eyes. “So, what about you? How do you know Pearl? She meets girls all the time, but she’s never brought one home before.”

A hot blush turned Laura’s face pinker than Rose’s hair. “I’m not …! It’s not like that!” She stared at her own ghostly reflection on the surface of her tea. “I saw her once, a while back. I didn’t know what she was, back then. It was just luck that I found her.” She sipped the tea. Her eyebrows raised. “Whoa. This is amazing.”

“Yeah? Seems kinda boring, if you ask me. I like stuff I can CHEW, ya know?”

Laura’s eyes darted to the crimson tomato stains on the floor. “Uh-huh.”

——— ☾ ———

Pearl stared in flat shock. Her face blushed sky blue. “ … She thinks I’m a CORPSE?”

Connie shook her head. “No! Well, I mean, yes, but not exactly. It’s more like a PREVIOUSLY dead body, that’s been brought back part way.”

“That’s even WORSE!” Pearl cried. “How could she possibly think that about me?”

The video image of Connie was still as a photo for a long moment. “Ah ... come to think of it, vampires ARE supposed to be really fast and strong and pale, and they live forever …”

“That’s hardly unique,” Pearl huffed.

“Your outfit looks pretty vampire-like, too, to be honest.”

“I was told this costume was appropriate for this Human holiday celebration! Nobody told me it was any kind of … of dead body uniform!”

Connie started counting off facts on her fingers. “Also, vampires don’t eat food, and they’re repulsed by garlic. Oh, and they feel compelled to pick up spilled items.”

Pearl folded her arms. “There’s nothing monstrous about disliking unpleasant smells and untidiness!”

“They have an irresistible charm -- an eerie, fatalistic allure?”

“I am NOT eerie,” Pearl said, but her blush warmed back up a little.

A voice from behind Pearl chimed in on the conversation: “Nobody’s suggesting you ARE one of these mythical monsters, Pearl.” 

Pearl yelped in surprise, and turned to face a towering figure wrapped in linen bandages and sporting an Ancient Egyptian style headdress.

Connie smiled. “Hey, Garnet! Guess you’re already up to speed thanks to future-vision, huh?”

“Mm-hm.” Garnet gave a simple nod before continuing. “The important thing isn’t what you are, but what this human girl came to you THINKING you are. She sought out what she thought was a deadly threat.” Her gleaming mirrored visor caught the moonlight and stood out incongruously, framed by the costume’s headdress. “That is not a healthy decision.”

“How am I supposed to deal with her, then?” Pearl asked, free hand raised in frustration. “If I set things straight when she’s obviously so desperate, I’m worried it will only make things worse. But I am NOT going to pretend to be some … some not-dead … thing!”

“ _Un-_ dead,” Connie corrected.

Pearl sighed.

“I’ll talk to her,” Garnet said. “Take a walk along the beach before you come back, Pearl. Take your time.” She smiled her subtle, enigmatic smile. “It’s a beautiful night.”

——— ☾ ———

When a silhouette once more darkened the beach house doorway, Laura looked up. And up.

And up.

“Wow …”

The girl was no fool, she knew it was Halloween. But she felt the massive bandaged woman’s every solid booming step through the floorboards, and the stiff, stony solidity of her physique showed absolutely that she was no more Human than Pearl was.

“So, I guess you’re …?” Laura trailed off.

“I’m Garnet,” the mummy replied. “And you’re in pain.”

Laura fell silent, and looked away. Garnet’s gaze felt far too heavy to meet, even through those big retro shades.

The werewolf sitting nearby seemed to sense the shift in the emotional gravity of the room. She quietly picked up the last ragged slice of pizza in her mouth and shifted to full canine form to creep out the door.

“This town really DOES have a lot of, ah, non-Humans in it, huh?” Laura forced an awkward chuckle.

Garnet stepped closer to the sofa. “I was in pain, too, not that long ago.”

The teen found her eyes dragged back to that mirrored visor, despite the pressure of the unseen stare behind them. “Yeah …?”

The immortal nodded, and then moved to sit down next to Laura. Like Amethyst, she made the sofa creak under her weight.

“I discovered that someone very precious to me had lied to me about some very important things.” She looked down at her hands. Grave-goods on her palms sparkled between the bands of linen. “It was impossible to keep myself together. I felt … broken.” Her head angled toward one hand. “Trapped in an icy blizzard of torment.” She looked to her other hand. “Alone and directionless. Lost in heartache.”

Laura’s own hands had found their way back to gripping her forearms, rubbing the half-healed scratches under her fishnet gloves. “What did you do?”

Garnet’s head raised as she looked out the window into the middle distance. “I suffered. A very great deal. But my loved ones never gave up on me, even when it seemed like I’d never be the same again. And in time, a new joy remade me, stronger than ever.”

“That sounds … amazing,” Laura muttered. She looked down at a streak of pizza sauce on the floor. “Nobody’s gonna be there for me like that, though.”

“You misunderstand,” Garnet said flatly. “The point of my story wasn’t those near and dear to me, even though they were a great help. The point was … if I had given in to despair entirely, instead of difficult, healing would have been _impossible_.” 

One of those stone-hard, jewel-studded hands lashed out with surprising speed and snatched Laura’s hand, spurring a startled gasp. The other joined the first, covering Laura’s pale hand above and below. Garnet partly turned to face Laura and once more pierced her with that shrouded stare.

“Oblivion can never cure pain, Laura. It will simply let it out to find another vessel. Your inner demons are fierce, and their ravages are torturous.” Light played across the visor. “That is why you must fight them with everything you have.” She gave Laura’s hand a firm but gentle squeeze, as strong and certain as a keystone.

Fresh mascara tracks lined Laura’s cheeks. She sniffled and trembled. “It’s … it’s s-so hard …”

“It is. And it will be, again and again. But if you endure, if you seek help, if you _take_ help … there are still beautiful times ahead for you. _I can see it."_

Laura choked up, struggling to push out words. “Really? That’s not just an expression, is it? Like, you actually …?” She took a breath. “There’s a way?”

Garnet smiled. “There are more than I can count.” With a quick gesture, a slip of paper flicked out between her fingers. “This is Pearl’s phone number. You can call her if you need to talk to her, or to me. Any of us. Any time.” Her visor gleamed. “We never sleep.”

The girl took the paper, cradling it like a baby bird. “I don’t know what to say. I never thought I’d get such nice treatment from people who aren’t … you know … people.”

Garnet smiled. “We had a great teacher.”

“What do I do right now, though?” Laura asked. “Where do I start? I’m out of money, out of options. I was banking on Pearl to … to help me.”

“She still will,” Garnet replied as she rose and headed to the door. “Right now.” She opened the door, revealing Pearl on the other side, midway to reaching out for the handle.

The vampire got over her surprise instantly, and then swept straight toward Laura.

“Hello again! You’re looking a bit better, that’s wonderful!” she said. “I ran into Greg again on my walk, and I talked to him about your troubles. He had some excellent advice about what a young Human coping with difficult circumstances might need, and he helped me secure it!” Once again too quickly to follow, Pearl brought out a weighty block of pale green and handed it to Laura.

Laura’s still slightly reddened eyes widened as they flicked over the band-wrapped stack of bills, all hundreds. 

“Omigosh …! This is too much!” she squeaked. “I could NEVER pay this back!”

Pearl frowned. “Oh, I’m sorry — was I unclear? This is yours now. It’s a gift. I know gifts are usually wrapped in colourful paper, but since this was already paper, I wasn’t sure about the custom for-.”

Laura leaped up and lunged against Pearl. That sleek, skinny frame met her charge like a castle wall, and those marble-smooth arms embraced her once more. “Thank you! All of you! S-So much!”

While Pearl hugged back and touched her cool, lifeless cheek to Laura’s, Garnet put a rock-solid hand on the girl’s shoulder and offered a satisfied nod.

Outside, on the lighthouse-topped peak above the beach house, Amethyst, still in wolf-form, bayed to the full moon and then happily wagged her tail when a chorus of distant but friendly howls rose up in reply.

  
  
  


**THE END**


End file.
